Stories that break the silence

The Association SOS Help-line for Women and Children – Victims of Violence offers women and children who experience violence a helpline, support and a safe house. Violence in a relationship usually goes on for years behind closed doors; fear, shame and guilt are the most common reasons it stays hidden.

So the association wanted to talk about violence out loud: with an exhibition, with the stories of women who survived it, and with campaigns that also reach those who are only beginning to look for help.

From 22 November 2018 to 7 January 2019, Kresija Gallery in Ljubljana showed the exhibition “When he hit the door the second time, I covered the hole with a poster”. The title is a direct quote from one of the women who escaped violence to the association's safe house. Ten of them wrote down their stories, and eight artists – Boris Beja, Mina Fina, Jaka Babnik, Valerie Wolf Gang, Hana Karim, Nina Koželj, Tadej Vaukman and Tanja Radež – worked with them to turn the stories into photographs, paintings, video and design objects.

We took care of the stories: we drew up the campaign's editorial plan, filmed the artists' video stories, created content for social media and tied it all together with radio and the events at the gallery. The artists' video stories are what we are proudest of.

Click a video to open it below its title. The videos are in Slovenian.

We cut difficult personal stories and statistics into short but powerful pieces for social media, coordinated the posts of three organisations and made sure every message, from Instagram teasers to radio shows and the exhibition opening, worked as one clear call to end violence against women. The editorial document was a living one: we left production notes and ideas in it, such as a video of visitors' impressions from the guest book.

In 2019 we created four short video stories for the association's project Kapljica izdolbe kamen (Dripping water wears away the stone), run together with the Avis theatre group and co-funded by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The project set out to make young people aware that violence in a relationship is never acceptable – even when it looks like care, jealousy or just a text message.

Because violence too often goes unheard, we filmed one of the videos in sign language.

In autumn 2019 we spoke out about sexual violence together with the association. First came the conversation Openly and firmly against sexual violence, followed by the testimony of a woman who survived sexual abuse. It premiered on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In the days before, we released a short excerpt from the testimony every day, each one carrying the premiere date.

With the exhibition and campaigns, the SOS Help-line put violence at the centre of public attention: in the gallery, on social media, on posters across Slovenia and on national radio. The stories of ten women and the interpretations of eight artists took a form that reaches everyone, and the messages of three organisations worked as one clear call to end violence.

If you are experiencing violence or know someone who is, the SOS Help-line is available free of charge in Slovenia on 080 11 55.